From Tanka Diary by Harryette Mullen

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 12, 2014   From Tanka Diary   Harryette Mullen

The botanical garden is just as I remember, although it is certain that everything has changed since my last visit. How many hilarious questions these fuzzy fiddleheads are inquiring of spring will be answered as green ferns unfurl? Walking the path, I stop to pick up bleached bark from a tree, curled into a scroll of ancient wisdom I am unable to read. Even in my dreams I’m hiking these mountain trails expecting to find a rock that nature has shaped to remind me of a heart.              Copyright @ 2014 by Harryette Mullen. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “The spirit of tanka interests me more than following rigid conventions. As I understand it, the tradition allows a variety of approaches, from simple description and heartfelt expression to classical allusion and evocative wordplay. Succeeding generations rediscover and renew the form so that it retains its vitality.” —Harryette Mullen   Harryette Mullen is the author of Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary (Graywolf Press, 2013). She teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also lives. Most Recent Book by Mullen   Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary (Graywolf Press, 2013) “Person of the Playful Star: Tanka [there is a hole at]” by Tada Chimako “Tanka” by Sadakichi Hartmann “Letter to Brooks [Spring Garden]” by Major Jackson Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038